


Never Again

by wildzubat



Category: Octopath Traveler (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 12:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15930656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildzubat/pseuds/wildzubat
Summary: all he remembers is a blur of agony and one solitary thought echoing through his mind:Never again. Never again.It forms the rhythm of his steps as he limps forward.Never again.therion after the fall





	Never Again

pain

that’s all he can feel

and cold

wet

 

the rush of rapids roars in his ears

 

his back and side are on fire with pinpricks like burning needles where stones bite into his flesh

every breath rattles in his chest and sends whitehot pain stabbing through his entire being

blood puddles in his mouth, trickles from his nose, bubbling with every breath

he coughs once and nearly passes out again

 

he breathes in and out

shallow and slow

 

in

 and

      out

 

At last, Therion manages to open his eyes, and he gathers enough consciousness to wonder why he’s not dead.

  _Guess the Gods aren’t done with me yet…_

He starts to laugh, but it hurts too much, and his stomach twists, and before he can stop himself, he tastes bile and acid, and he groans in misery as the spasm of his muscles twists broken bones and pulls at shredded skin and torn muscle.

He can taste salt, and he realizes after a while that it’s not just blood that’s leaking from him without his leave but tears too. (He tells himself it’s just ‘cause his body fucking _hurts_ and has nothing to do with the wounds in his heart. They were _brothers_.)

  
  


The most difficult thing Therion has ever had to do and ever will have to do is this: move.

 

Somehow he does, eventually, taking stock as he inch by inch pushes himself up enough to spit (as if that will clear the awful taste of betrayal from his mouth) and then to crawl.

He can’t feel one arm, fair certain it’s broken or (if he’s lucky) dislocated. At least a couple of his ribs are busted. One ankle is definitely sprained, and maybe the knee too (it’s swollen and bruised at least), and the other leg might be broken, so walking is right out. His skin is shredded where he slid along the cliff side, and it oozes a trail of blood behind him. He can only see out of one eye; the other is swollen shut and clogged with blood, and he’s pretty sure his nose is broken too. Probably has a concussion with the way his head throbs, though he’s woozy enough from everything else that who can say?

Miraculously, he didn’t lose all his pouches and pockets in the fall, and even if he’s missing a shoe and his clothing is in tatters, he’s still got a few things, and he manages to drag himself out of the shallows and prop himself against a boulder near the shore of… wherever he’s wound up. His spine seems to be the one thing miraculously in tact. With one good arm (and only the arm, really; it’s scraped to hell, and he can’t bend his wrist too much), he manages to pull a dried plum out of a pocket. It, too, is smashed all to hell but it’s better than nothing. He hopes the enchantments infusing it weren’t smashed too.

Chewing hurts, which is unexpected, but then again since everything hurts, he supposes he shouldn’t be surprised. He closes his eye, and it takes all his willpower to open it again as he feels himself drifting.

 

He can’t stay here.

He refuses to stay here.

He refuses to die.

He refuses to give that bastard the satisfaction.

 

Broken lips spread into a broken grin. Darius had insisted that he was better in the end only to fuck up killing someone this badly - that’s hilarious and pretty sad, and Therion must bite back the urge to laugh more. (He must swallow the urge to sob even harder.)

  
  


When he thinks back on it later, he doesn’t remember much. Doesn’t remember how he got from the bottom of the canyon to the lumpy bed he eventually wakes up in. He supposes he must have followed the river until he found someone or they found him, but all he remembers is a blur of agony and one solitary thought echoing through his mind:

Never again. Never again.

It forms the rhythm of his steps as he limps forward.

_Never again._

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after I played Therion's chapter 3, and I meant to continue it or have it be part of some larger character study, but it's been sitting on my hard drive for a month now with only skeleton notes and random snippits filling out the rest. There's a river that runs through the canyon beneath the cliff Darius pushed Therion off, and the river leads into the riverlands, so I suppose I imagined him drifting down the river and winding up found by a farmer or something. I'd also toyed with an AU of him winding up as far as Clearbrook under the care of certain someones, but that's mostly remained in sketchy note form.  
> I might still come back to it at some point? I'm not sure, but I thought I'd share it all the same! I'm trying to be better about posting things rather than just leaving them on my hard drive gathering dust. Thank you for reading!


End file.
